When was the word secular added to our preamble?
Answers
✒ Answer:
Any discussion on secularism would need first to focus on two basic aspects: Firstly, the word ‘secularism’ has no substitute in any of our languages. Like the ‘war’ is the opposite word of ‘peace’, in common parlance in the Indian context, ‘secularism’ is understood by its antonym ‘communalism’, while in the Western context, ‘secularism’ is understood by its antonym ‘theocracy. Secondly, the word ‘secularism’ was nowhere mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution when it was enforced. It was included in the Preamble by the controversial 42nd Constitution Amendment during the Emergency with effect from January 3, 1977.
✒ Explanation:
It is interesting to note that the Preamble , though the Constitution opens with it , was not the first to come into existence .It was the last piece of drafting adopted by the Constituent Assembly at the end of the first reading of the constitution . The motion to adopt the Preamble was moved on the October 17, 1949. It was suggested during the debates that the Preamble be taken up when the Constituent Assembly would meet in November for the third reading as by that time the Drafting Committee would also have submitted its final report to the House. Maulana Hasrat Mohani objected to the postponement submitting that unless the Preamble was passed on that day at the first reading itself , the Drafting Committee could not produce any report on the second reading . K.M.Munshi supported him. Maulana Hasrat Mohani by making a humorous comment – “Once in my life I support the Maulana Saheb !” The President ruled that the Preamble should be passed on that day to enable the Constitution as a whole being passed in its second reading and the Preamble forming part of the Constitution . Several amendments were suggested to the Preamble but they were all negated.
At the end, the President moved the motion –“That the Preamble stands part of the Constitution.” The motion was adopted on Novemer 2, 1949 . The Preamble was added to the Constitution.
↳ In the words of Justice Jagan Mohan Reddy in his judgment in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, 1973 (4) SCC 225--
“The Preamble to the Constitution which our Founding Fathers have , after the Constitution was framed , finally settled to conform to the ideals and aspirations of the people embodied in that instrument, have in ringing tone declared the purposes and objectives which the Constitution was intended to sub serve.”
The question arises as to why it was introduced during the Emergency. Was it not a challenge to the wisdom of the Constitution-makers? The Constituent Assembly consisted of persons who had no partisan motive nor they had any axe to grind. They were men of vision; they inspired confidence, and were all products of the struggle for independence.
In the struggle for independence, the people of different religious pursuits had a natural worry as to what sort of religious freedom they would be able to enjoy in an independent India. When Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the scene and transformed the freedom movement into a mass movement in 1920s, it was realised that people could hardly be motivated to go the whole hog for the freedom struggle unless they were assured that their religious beliefs and systems would be secure in a post-independent India and that they would not be marginalized and sidelined, in case they belonged to the minority community.
⇝ It was in the pursuit of this very assurance that Gandhiji gave to the people the much-valued concept of ‘Sarva Dharm Sambhav”--the principle that all religions are equal. The Mulsim League had boycotted the Constitutent Assembly when it started its session on December 9, 1946, and it continued to boycott it even thereafter. Evidently the pressure worked, and on June 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten announced the coming into existence of two independent States with effect from August 15, 1947.
Answer:
✔✔The word secular was adopted after the article of constitution in the year 1956
✔✔But It was followed in 1975.
✔✔Although the term secular was not included anywhere in the constitution as it was originally adopted on November 26, 1949